In Haiti, as in most nations, social distortions and inequalities make it harder for women to participate in the labor market as much as men. According to a study carried out by the Ministry of Women’s Affairs and Rights (MCFDF), women make up less than one-third of the formal sector. In addition to having less access to employment opportunities than men, women work in more precarious jobs and the income they generate remains lower. Women hold less than ten percent of management positions. How to tackle this problem is the topic of a new research paper by Mélissa Torchenaud, project analyst...

Bjorn Lomborg joined Purdue President Mitch Daniels in an hour long discussing the world, energy, and climate. The talk was part of Purdue Convocations presidential lecture series. Initiated in 1902, Purdue Convocations is among the oldest collegiate performing arts presenters in the United States. Each year, Convocations offers the region 30--40 performances of widely varying genres.

Many proposals have been made in the past ten years to make Haiti’s public sector more effective. In spite of these efforts, public services remain in a critical state, illustrated by strikes, delays caused by red tape, and difficulties for citizens to do things like getting a passport, registering land, or clearing customs for imported goods. The improvement of public services continues to pose a challenge for Haiti. New research for Haiti Priorise, a research project that examines solutions to the nation’s biggest challenges, by economist Riphard Serent from Quisqueya University and the...

Prioritizing spending alternatives is difficult in every country. But it is especially challenging in Haiti, where, following years of fractious politics, a newly elected government is striving to expand the economy and improve wellbeing while confronting the lingering consequences of the massive 2010 earthquake. Every government has limited funds, but Haiti has an annual budget of just $2 billion, with foreign donors allocating another $1 billion. To put that number into context, the annual budgets of two countries with similar-size populations, the Czech Republic and Sweden, are $74 billion...

A tablet that costs less than 5 gourdes (or US$0.08) could end up saving more than 15,000 Haitian lives over the next 12 years, according to new research for Haiti Priorise. Haiti Priorise is a research project in which experts study the costs and effects of different approaches to solving Haitian challenges, from education and economic initiatives to environmental ones. Some of the highest returns on investment are those identified by Stephen Vosti of the University of California, Davis, and colleagues, in an examination of Haitian nutrition.

Jobs don’t come much tougher than this. Whoever is chosen as the new head of the World Health Organization next week has $4.5 billion a year to spend – but when you’re trying to improve public health on a planet of 7.5 billion people, you have to use it wisely. So the new director-general needs to prioritise areas where a sharper focus would squeeze the most out of every dollar, yen, euro or pound spent. Doing this would also bolster the case for an increase in the WHO’s budget.

Over the past 21 years, Haiti has been hit by 40 cyclones, thunderstorms and heavy rains. Each year on average two events cause flooding and landslides with serious consequences for people and their livelihoods. Haiti is more vulnerable than many nations because of the number of people living in poverty. Climate change means that these phenomena could increase in occurrence and severity.